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Dr. Shirley A. Lazorchak

Education

B.S.: West Virginia University

M.S.: Robert Morris College

Ph.D.: The Ohio State University

Biography

Dr. Shirley A. Lazorchak is an Associate Professor of Marketing
in the Department of Business and Economics. She has the professional
distinction of earning prestigious major, national and international awards in
all three areas of faculty performance:
Teaching, scholarly research and professional service.

While serving as a professor at West Virginia University, she
was selected by the faculty for the Outstanding Teacher Award, having been
chosen from among 350 of her collegiate peers. She was also selected for a second Outstanding Teacher
Award, having been chosen by her students from among all faculty in her
department.

In the research area, she, along with her collaborators, earned
the Outstanding Scholarly Paper of the Year-In Track Award and were selected as
runner up for the Outstanding Scholarly Paper of the Year by the editorial
board of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences for their
ground breaking, innovative work. She was honored when another one of her scholarly papers,
focused on an aspect of personal branding, was selected by the United States Federal
Government’s Foreign Service Institute for inclusion on the reading list for use
in educating members of the United States Diplomatic Training Corp.

In the service area, she was selected by the American Marketing
Association (AMA) as the recipient of the Hugh G. Wales International Faculty
Advisor of the Year Award. This
recognition was awarded during the Annual American Marketing Association’s
International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans in recognition of her sustained
success in mentoring members of the Cal U Student Marketing Association (SMA) to
international prominence by winning numerous international student competitions
over a ten year period of time. During her tenure as advisor, the organization
ranked among the top ten SMA’s in the world. Afterward, she was honored to join the AMA International
Collegiate Judging Panel, helping to select the top performing university chapters
in global competition.

Dr. Lazorchak has been inducted into four academic honoraries
representing four distinct academic disciplines: Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Upsilon Omicron, Delta Pi Epsilon and
Alpha Mu Alpha. Furthermore, she
is the founding faculty member of the Cal U Chapter of Alpha Mu Alpha, an
international academic honorary, sponsored by the American Marketing
Association, which recognizes excellent performance in the discipline of
marketing. She was honored to be
its first campus inductee.

Prior to becoming an academician, Dr. Lazorchak enjoyed a
successful career as an apparel buyer, merchandiser and manager for some of the
world’s leading retail department and specialty stores. As a buyer, she covered
the New York City and Los Angeles markets to procure goods to satisfy the wants
and needs of her target consumer: American teenagers. She shared her market knowledge by authoring a magazine
column, The Clothes Line, which focused on communicating developments in the
textile, apparel and retailing sectors to an interested consumer audience. While a buyer, she also served as a corporate
recruiter, visiting numerous college campuses, interviewing outstanding candidates
and evaluating the merits of their qualifications for acceptance into the
executive buyer training squad.

Dr. Lazorchak is active in her community. She reinforces her interest in
professional development by serving as a member of the Board of Directors of
the international non-profit, Dress for Success, a welfare-to-work program whose mission is to promote the economic
independence of disadvantaged women by helping them gain and retain meaningful
employment.

She is a member of the nationally
award-winning, Peters Township Character Counts Committee. This community-based character
building initiative, formed by a collaboration of the Peters Township School
District, Chamber of Commerce, Municipal Government, Rotary, Ministerium and Parent
Teacher Association, has been the spark behind many programmatic and
philosophical changes in the township.

Dr. Lazorchak is one of the founding committee members of the
Pittsburgh Chapter of Fashion Group International (FGI). FGI is a global, non-profit, professional
organization with over 5,000 members in thirty-five cities working in the
fashion industry including apparel, accessories, home and beauty. The Pittsburgh chapter acts to unify, support
and promote the many aspects of the industry represented in the tri-state
area. The organization provides
opportunities for students who plan to work in the apparel industry by offering
student internships, by sponsoring networking events and by providing opportunities
for collaborative endeavors in Pittsburgh and among nearby regional FGI
chapters in Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York City.

Finally, when not concentrating on her teaching, scholarly research
and service activities, she works to establish her personal branding consulting firm: Professional Panache.

Research Interests

Personal Branding: Strategies
and tactics used as a competitive advantage in workforce readiness and
executive development initiatives

Contemporary issues in the marketing and merchandising of
products manufactured in the consumer soft goods complex

Body image and body cathexis constructs as used in advertising
and the resulting impact on consumers and society-at-large

Consumer behavior in retail shopping behavior

Product packaging and product design and its use as
a strategic competitive advantage in product differentiation

Publications and Presentations

Dr. Lazorchak has presented
her work in state, national and international forums, published in academic
journals and has had her commentaries published on the editorial pages of
newspapers. Her original case
study was selected for publication in a textbook focused on retail strategy. She has served as an abstract and manuscript
reviewer and scholarly track chairperson for several of her professional
associations.

Student Research and Honors Projects

Dr. Lazorchak supports students in their research interests:

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Committee Member: Holiday
Marketing: The History and
Cultural Change of Santa Claus. California University of Pennsylvania.

Honors Course Credit Advisor: From Modcloth to Fashion Trucks: An Analysis of Alternative Retailing
Formats. California University of Pennsylvania.

Service Learning

For more than 10 years, Dr. Lazorchak served as the faculty advisor for
the Student Marketing Association;
service learning projects were undertaken by this group annually. Projects typically focused on collaborations
between student teams and local small business owners to expand and strengthen current
marketing efforts.

Service

Dr. Lazorchak has served on numerous university committees
including the Guttman Student Research Grant Committee, Career Services
Advisory Board, Career Services Executive Board, General Education Committee,
Forum Communication Committee, Middle States Accreditation Committee,
Service-Learning Committee, Marketing Outreach Committee and Tenure Committee, among others. She also has served as the Marketing
Interest Group Coordinator in her department.

Memberships

Dr. Lazorchak is a member of a variety of professional
associations including the American Marketing Association, Marketing Educators’
Association, Marketing Management Association, Society of Marketing Advances, Mid-Atlantic
Popular Culture Association, International Textile and Apparel Association, American
Collegiate Retailing Association and Fashion Group International, among
others.